Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is proposing a new rule that would require some tourists to provide access to the past five years of their social media history before entering the country.

According to the text of the new rule, published in the Federal Register on Dec. 10, the social media check would comply with President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”

In addition to preventing terrorism, that order seeks to prevent entry by foreign nationals who “espouse hateful ideology” or “bear hostile attitudes toward [U.S.] citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.”

The proposed rule would apply to travelers seeking to enter the United States under the visa waiver program, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

That program allows foreign travelers from 42 countries to stay in the United States for up to 90 days without applying for a visa, a process that can take months.

These changes are not totally new, according to a timeline created by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began screening social media accounts of some refugees entering the United States in 2015, and expanded the program to some travelers seeking visa waivers toward the end of the Obama administration.

In 2019, DHS sought to have all applicants for immigration, visas, and visa waivers disclose their social media identifiers from the previous five years; that proposal was rejected under Biden’s administration in 2021.

In addition to social media information, the ESTA program will now ask users to provide personal and business phone numbers going back five years, along with names, phone numbers, and residences of family members.

The proposed rule will also decommission application for the ESTA program through the government website and replace it with the ESTA Mobile app.

“CBP believes that moving to a mobile-only approach for ESTA submissions will both enhance security and improve efficiency,” the proposal states.

The ESTA website will remain online for users looking for information about the program and for applicants to check the status of their ESTA applications, the agency said.

CBP said this change should also result in fewer rejections because of low-quality photos and prevent fraud, because the app will be able to validate user passports.

It will also eliminate applications through third-party websites.

“Third-party fraudulent websites charge travelers exorbitant fees to process an application, where many of these applications may never be processed by CBP, resulting in a traveler being unable to board a U.S.-bound plane,” the CBP said.

The new rule has been posted for comment, and the public will have 60 days to weigh in starting on Dec. 10.